Unsportsmanlike behaviour ends Super-40 Cricket finals

With the finals of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association’s (SVGCA) Super-40 Cricket Competition ending prematurely last Sunday at the Park Hill Playing Field, the outcome will be decided soonest.

The assurance was given by the association’s president – Kishore Shallow, who {{more}}communicated this to SEARCHLIGHT on Sunday.

The executive of the SVGCA will make a decision on the outcome of the match, following a report from umpires Roger Davis and Cornelius Edwards.

The melee erupted when Team Rivals were 58 for 6 in the 15th over, replying to Victors One’s 86 all out in 25.1 overs.

Standing umpire Roger Davis had upheld an appeal by the Victors One players for an LBW decision against Team Rivals’ batsman Roneil Jeffrey. Davis, on consultation with Edwards, who was at square leg, then reversed his decision to ‘Not Out,’ as it was confirmed that Jeffrey did strike the ball with his bat. Davis’ decision angered the Victors One players, who chose not to continue the match.

This was another episode in the long-standing bad blood between the Victors One team, its management and Davis.

And, last Sunday, the situation was made worse, as players and other close associates of the team (Victors One) could be heard accusing Davis of disliking Victors One.

There have been several incidents in the past which have led to the apparent strained relationship between Davis and the Victors One clan.

This tension has led to the management of Victors One even requesting that Davis not officiate in matches involving their unit.

Among the fall-outs in the past was Davis’ bold adjudication of Victors One’s fast bowler Ray Jordan on at least three occasions for “illegal deliveries”.

Davis, however, has been vindicated, as Jordan, who played for the West Indies in the Under-19 Youth World Cup in Dubai in early 2014, was in March of that same year, after being put through bio mechanical tests at the University of Western Australia in Perth, found to have deliveries which were above the 15 degrees tolerance threshold accepted by the International Cricket Conference.

Also, Lauron Francois and Donwell Hector, two Victors One players, have in the past had on-field verbal spats with Davis.

Hector, who is the current captain of Victors One, in a match in which Davis was umpiring, reportedly kicked down the stumps to show his dissatisfaction with an on-field decision.

In 2012, at the start of the season, Davis was one of the umpires standing in the opening match at the Arnos Vale One Playing Field, when then player of Victors One – Seon Sween and ASCO’s Nicos Davis were involved in a fight during the second day of the match.

But things did not boil over to that point at the time of last Sunday’s stoppage and eventual end of the match; Jeffrey was on 17 and with him at the time was Deighton Butler – 3 not out, as the two had shared in a seventh wicket stand of 28.

Team Rivals was on a recovery path after losing six wickets for 30 runs, with Ray Jordan having taken 3 for 16 and Norlan Williams – 2 for 17.

In Victors One’s innings, Chrisroy John had top scored with 24; bowling for Team Rivals, Olanzo Jackson and Rasheed Fredericks both had figures of 2 for 12 and Deron Greaves – 2 for 17.

The Super-40 competition brought together the three top finishers in this year’s National Lotteries Authority Premier Division – Flow Radcliffe, Team Rivals and Victors One, in that order, along with First Division winners – Smashers.

In the play-offs, Victors One beat Smashers by 65 runs and Team Rivals defeated Radcliffe by five wickets to set up last Sunday’s grand finale.(RT)